Disposable garments, for example diapers or training pants, are known. Such garments may have side panels (or ears) and/or tabs. The side panels and/or tabs may be made from elastic composites. Elastic composites typically comprise various combinations of nonwovens and elastic materials, each combination designed to obtain a specific solution to a particular problem. Often, these elastic composites require some type of mechanical work to activate the composite.
Examples of elastic composites (also known as elastic laminates) may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,255,236 and 6,726,983. U.S. Pat. No. 6,255,236 discloses an elastic laminate where two nonwovens sandwich an elastic web, and the laminate has at least one elastic lane and at least one stiffened lane. U.S. Pat. No. 6,726,983 discloses an elastic laminate where two nonwovens sandwich an elastic film, and the elastic film is extrusion coated onto one nonwoven and is thermally bonded to the other nonwoven.
There is an on-going effort in the disposable garment industry to provide new elastic composites with a balance of physical and esthetic properties and cost. Accordingly, there is a need for new elastic composites.